Chef David Chang’s new book “Eat a Peach: A Memoir” will be released this Tuesday. In his podcast this week discussing the book, Chang said his father and others in his young life such as veteran chefs repeatedly told him, “You suck. You're stupid. You're slow.” This cruel language of bullies enrages me.
It’s certainly painful stuff, but we’ve all seen and heard stories of parents, older siblings, bosses, and senior colleagues who tear down others to prop up their own insecurities. Some of us are lucky not to have experienced much of this treatment, but too many good people have had their confidence and creativity sacrificed at the altar of others’ weaknesses.
Isn’t one of our primary duties in life to help develop our children, friends, and colleagues and watch them take flight? Isn’t true happiness found in the realization that your teaching, mentoring, and behavior modeling has left people better than how you found them? I think so.
Image courtesy of Money Crashers.